Determination of Critical Mud Window Pressures by Applying Analytical Models and Geo-Mechanical Characterization
Abstract
In Colombia, sedimentary basins are structurally complex and have a high tectonism, meaning that drilling operations in hydrocarbon deposits are also complex and, consequently, causing time and money losses to the hydrocarbons industry. Applying areas of knowledge such as geomechanics is a viable solution to the challenge of stabilizing wells. This study proposes algorithms to evaluate pre-existing models, with new models describing the concentration of the stresses around the well and the failure criterion, establishing the failure relationship between rock resistance and the stresses it concentrates. This allows to describe the stress state of the well wall by combining tension and compressional failure criteria to obtain critical fracture and collapse pressures, respectively. Along with pore pressure, those pressures are the components of the mud window, with which the well stability can be improved, from the weight of the mud and the direction of the well. It was found that, in tension models, with respect to tension critical pressure, the regions are found for Azwell between 150-330° and 180-360° and Incwell between 60° and 90°. Also, that lower overbalanced values agree with the most stable direction, which is found for Incwell at approximately 0-20°, which makes low-slope wells to show more evenly distributed stress, compared to highly diverted wells.
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References
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